Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is nearing a move to LA Galaxy in the MLS. The 36-year-old former Sweden international is due to return to training next week following a December injury setback. (ESPN)

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte insists he needs three strikers in his squad to stand any chance of winning silverware this season. (Express)

Goalkeeper Joe Hart is keen to end his loan deal with West Ham before the transfer window closes. The 30-year-old, on loan from Manchester City, is now David Moyes' second choice and wants to retain his position as England's number one for the World Cup. (Times - subscription required)

Andre Ayew could also be on his way out of West Ham with Swansea hoping to complete an £18m deal for the 28-year-old Ghana forward's return to the Liberty Stadium. (Sun)

Manchester United have joined the race to sign Bayern Munich's Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal, 30. (Mirror)

Stoke City will have to pay the £16m asking price if they are to sign Galatasaray and Senegal midfielder Badou Ndiaye. The Potters have already had a £14m bid rejected for the 27-year-old. (Sun)

Blues manager Antonio Conte insists 24-year-old Belgium striker Michy Batshuayi, who is being linked with a loan move away from the club, does not have to leave this month. (Evening Standard)

West Ham and Senegal striker Diafra Sakho, 28, has resumed talks with Rennes over a prospective £9m move to the French side. (Mail)

Monaco's 24-year-old Brazilian midfielder Fabinho, who has been linked with Manchester United and Manchester City, has indicated he is keen to leave the French club for a new challenge. (Lancenet via Sky Sports)

Roma striker Edin Dzeko's proposed move to Chelsea is off after talks over the 31-year-old Bosnia international broke down. (Star)

Watford manager Javi Garcia will attempt to make Sunderland and Gabon midfielder Didier Ndong, 23, his first signing. (Sun)

West Brom are ready to put in a bid of £18m to sign Watford striker Troy Deeney, 29. The Englishman missed his side's FA Cup defeat on Saturday. (Birmingham Mail)

Newcastle could return with a third and final offer for Feyenoord and Denmark striker Nicolai Jorgensen, 27, in the next 24 hours. (Chronicle)

Crystal Palace are considering a move for Burnley's 28-year-old English striker Ashley Barnes, who has 18 months left on his contract at Turf Moor. (Sky Sports)

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has put new signing Alexis Sanchez's new locker next to Marcus Rashford's - to help them strike up a partnership on and off the pitch. (Sun)

German side FC Kaiserslautern are the latest side to be showing an interest in Bristol City's Swedish striker Gustav Engvall, 21. (Sport Bladet via Bristol Post)

Best of Sunday's gossip

Manchester City are ready to make a £150m move for Chelsea's Eden Hazard, 27, after Pep Guardiola identified the Belgium winger as his main summer transfer target. (Sunday Mirror)

Paris St-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi says the rumours of Neymar, 25, moving to Real Madrid make him laugh and insists "2,000%" that the Brazil international will be at the Ligue 1 outfit next season. (Mail on Sunday)

Manchester City and Manchester United are set to battle it out against in an attempt to sign Brazil midfielder Fred, 24, from Shakhtar Donetsk. (Daily Star Sunday)

Liverpool and Tottenham are set to miss out on 28-year-old Paris St-Germain midfielder Javier Pastore, who has confirmed that returning to Italy is his priority. (Metro)

Guardian Rumour Mill

Simon Burnton

Alexis Sánchez’s move to Manchester has convinced LA Galaxy the time could be right to resurrect their interest in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with someone telling ESPN that a deal is “the furthest along it has ever been” and now could possibly happen quite soon. Meanwhile in Spain, El Confidencial report that superagent Jorge Mendes is trying to make a Cristiano Ronaldo-David de Gea swap deal happen, although unhelpfully United believe that a goalkeeper in his prime should be worth considerably more than an ageing Portuguese wonderwinger.

The Monaco midfielder Fabinho has issued a come-and-get-me plea to the Premier League sides who were interested in him in the summer, a group that includes both Manchester clubs. “If a move [was possible] to a new league or a club with a bigger structure and bigger expectations, I would be interested,” he said. “My time with Monaco has been good, but I feel my time here is coming to an end.”

Newcastle have sent high-level representatives to the Czech Republic and hope they will come home with two signatures scrawled upon the papers in their leatherette briefcases. Viktoria Plzen’s Michael Krmencik, a 24-year-old who has scored 16 times in 20 first-team appearances this season, is their top target and could be secured for £10m, but they also hope to sneak a deal for the Sparta Prague goalkeeper Martin Dubravka. They are one of eight top-flight clubs – including Everton, Brighton and Burnley – said to have had scouts at the KCom Stadium on Saturday to watch Jarrod Bowen on the wing in Hull’s 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest, and hope to pip Liverpool to the signing of the 24-year-old Gremio striker Luan, who would cost around £17.5m.

Watford might have changed managers during the transfer window but they haven’t switched transfer targets: Sunderland’s Didier Ndong remains the apple of the Hornets’ eye, though they want him on loan with an option to buy in the summer, an idea Chris Coleman dismissed some time ago. Stoke have been told to cough up £16m if they want to sign Galatasaray’s Senegalese midfielder Badou Ndiaye, having had a bid for £2m less than that rebuffed. Also holding firm on the asking price of one of their players is Arsenal, who will happily sell Olivier Giroud to Chelsea – still on the hunt for a striker as their move for Roma’s Edin Dzeko wobbles – but not for a penny less than £35m.

Crystal Palace want to make three signings before the window shuts on Wednesday, starting with Burnley’s Ashley Barnes – who they hope to tempt south with an £11m bid – before shifting to the Lille defender Ibrahim Amadou and Jake Livermore. West Brom would use the money raised for a bid for Watford’s Troy Deeney, for whom they are “lining up an £18m bid”. West Ham’s Diafra Sakho, looks likely to move to Rennes for £9m, while André Ayew could also be on his way out of the London Stadium, with Swansea having decided that, what with the Wilfried Bony thing having gone so thrillingly well, buying back former strikers is a jolly good idea and are thus busily peeling £18m in used fivers from their bulging wallet. Finally Joe Hart would also seem to be on the way out: the Times reports that he will “push to end his loan deal” before the transfer window closes, having spent the last 10 league games kicking his heels on the touchline, and seek regular, or indeed any, football elsewhere.

Mail

Joe Hart eyes end to miserable West Ham loan before January transfer deadline to combat threat to his England place at World Cup

Joe Hart made a rare start for West Ham in the FA Cup defeat by Wigan The goalkeeper is on loan from Manchester City, but is not in favour at West Ham Hart faces a serious threat for his World Cup place if he does not play regularly His only option appears to be to push for a transfer this January

By Chris Cutmore

Joe Hart could try to end his loan deal with West Ham before the end of the transfer window on Wednesday.

Hart has barely featured for West Ham since David Moyes took charge, with Adrian starting in goal in the last 10 Premier League matches, and he faces little opportunity for more first-team football this season after the FA Cup humiliation at Wigan.

The 30-year-old keeper, cast off by Pep Guardiola from Manchester City, made a rare start on Saturday but admitted that he was 'struggling for positives' after his side's 2-0 defeat.

Hart is in the strange position of remaining England's No 1 keeper in a World Cup year despite having been discarded by City and struggling even at mid-table West Ham.

He will be desperate to ensure he plays regularly to keep hold of his status under Gareth Southgate, but with little prospect of that under Moyes his only other option looks to be a move elsewhere.

His main England rivals, Jordan Pickford and Jack Butland, are playing every week for Everton and Stoke respectively.

'It goes without saying that we didn't take our chances to impress,' Hart said after the match at the DW Stadium. 'It's very disappointing on my behalf, because I want to perform and losing 2-0 at Wigan is difficult, so I'm struggling for positives.'

He was also scathing of the rest of the team's performance during the shock cup exit.

'Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong but I think we've only got ourselves to blame with a number of the incidents that have gone on, so it's very disappointing,' added Hart.

'We conceded early but I don't think that's a good enough excuse. You go 1-0 down, you pick yourself up and get back in the game. It's a cup game and you keep fighting.'

Mail

David Moyes was beaten before a ball was kicked in West Ham's FA Cup loss at Wigan... the race was run when they put Premier League survival over cup

Wigan marched into the FA Cup fifth round with a 2-0 victory over West Ham The defining moment came when David Moyes discussed Wigan's 2013 cup win 'They'd rather not win the FA Cup, but stay in the Premier League,' Moyes said At that moment, West Ham's race was run. The loss does not count as a shock

By Martin Samuel

Paul Cook, Wigan's manager, said the defining point of the game was Arthur Masuaku's sending off. It was about all he got wrong the whole afternoon.

The defining moment came before a ball had been kicked. Around 1.30pm last Thursday when West Ham manager David Moyes turned his attention to Wigan's FA Cup win in 2013.

'If you went back and asked the Wigan people what they'd rather have,' he said. 'They'd rather not win the FA Cup, but stay in the Premier League.'

At that moment, West Ham's race was run. If the result was not embarrassment enough, worse was that it does not even count as a shock — because bookmakers made Wigan favourites before kick-off.

Imagine that. Long before Masuaku was rightly sent off for spitting at Nick Powell, a League One club was favoured to beat the 11th-placed team in the Premier League. That is something of an indictment of West Ham's attitude to the competition — and it starts at the top.

No-one should presume to speak for Wigan's fans but it's a fair guess a number of them would take issues with Moyes's appraisal.

Some might even regard May 11, 2013, as the sporting highlight of their lives. And it continues to resonate.

The millennials following Wigan with a passion later in life will quite possibly owe that intensity of feeling to one day in May, not a series of grim battles for survival.

There will be fewer in Wigan wearing the red of Manchester United because who gets distracted by the bright lights, having seen their hometown win the FA Cup? And what will Wigan celebrate in 10, 20, 25 years? The glorious 15th place in 2012 — or the Wembley victory a year later?

Cup finals are worth decades of mediocrity. Growing up watching West Ham, the dour relegation battles roll into a blurred one. But 1975? 1980? Even the final defeats in 1976 and 1981 stand out like beacons in the darkness.

West Ham fans are watching ordinary football in a stadium many of them hate. If Moyes cannot see what a proper swing at their first trophy in 37 years would mean to the club, he has not got the imagination for the job. Maybe there are Wigan fans who would rather have maintained a steady 16th and not defeated Roberto Mancini's Manchester City that day.

Might they be the ones mocked in taunts about having only come to see United, though?

For really, apart from occasionally getting to watch Alexis Sanchez or Harry Kane, what is the point of a mediocre existence near the bottom of the league? Star spotting and lining the owners' pockets: that is what mere survival amounts to.

If you have come for your team, who cares if they are playing Southampton or Shrewsbury — certainly at Wigan, whose 40 seasons as a League club have included just eight in the Premier League.

Yes, of course they would have loved to stay up in 2012-13; but to exchange it for the FA Cup, the only major trophy the club has won, the springboard to the lone European campaign in Wigan's history, one that put their club in the draw with Dynamo Kiev, Valencia, Lazio and PSV Eindhoven?

Moyes lost Saturday's game when he treated that glory as inconvenience.

If he had ever won a trophy, he might not be so dismissive of what those rare and wonderful moments mean.

Sun

Swansea want Andre Ayew from West Ham and are ready to pay £18million to seal his return before deadline day

Striker looks close to make a stunning return to the Liberty Stadium to save Welsh side from relegation

Exclusive By Mike McGrath

SWANSEA hope to seal a £18million deal for Andre Ayew’s return.

West Ham have rejected a £15m offer for the Ghana striker they paid £20.5m for.

But the Swans will go back with their improved offer before the transfer window closes on Wednesday.

David Moyes wants to make sure he has enough cover in attack before allowing Ayew, 28, to leave.

Andy Carroll is out with a foot injury, while out-of-favour Javier Hernandez is wanted by Turkish side Besiktas.

West Ham have told Fulham they will go to £20m to snare midfielder Tom Cairney — after a £15m bid was rejected.

Meanwhile, Swansea could yet make an approach for Atletico Madrid winger Nico Gaitan.

SunSport exclusively revealed the Welsh outfit are willing to meet his £120,000-a-week wages to make a January switch happen.

Sport Witness

Weekend developments seen as key and West Ham could now get big signing over the line

One man’s misfortune is another man’s fortune.

That’s what Het Nieuwsblad are getting at in their Monday edition as they report Leander Dendoncker to West Ham could be back on.

Pedro Obiang’s knee injury is seen as a development which could push David Moyes into action, and finally get Dendoncker to English football.

On Saturday claims came from Belgium that David Moyes is the one holding up a transfer for the midfielder, with the manager not being completely convinced.

The Premier League club’s board were said to be keen, and scout Tony Henry described as a big fan, but Dithering Dave wasn’t so sure. That backed up earlier claims of Moyes being left unconvinced from West Ham’s last scouting of the player.

Het Nieuwsblad firmly believe West Ham remain in the running to sign Dendoncker this week, and that was thought to be case even before Obiang picked up an injury which is why the Spaniard being stretchered off is seen as key.

Will Dithering Dave suddenly have a moment of clarity and jump on the Dendoncker train? There’s just two days left to find out.

Rennes are now waiting to complete the signing of Diafra Sakho, report L’Equipe in their Monday edition.

Sakho seems to have been on the verge of a West Ham exit for quite some time, with a move failing in the summer 2016 transfer window, and then several others going the same way since.

France Football reported a breakthrough in the Rennes transfer on Sunday, and now L’Equipe have a little more information to pad the story out.

It’s reiterated Sakho was so close to signing for Rennes in the summer that a medical had been completed on a €10m transfer, but everything fell to pieces when West Ham wouldn’t play ball.

Now the transfer is set to be for ‘quite lower than €10m’ according to the French newspaper. That would suggest a disagreement with some of the other figures being passed around the media.

Sakho will be signing a two and a half year contract with Rennes, which may be shorter than the 28 year old would have preferred or may show he’s already got half an eye on moving again in the not too distant future.

Sky

West Ham in talks to sign Russia captain Fedor Smolov

West Ham are in talks to sign Russia captain Fedor Smolov from Russian Premier League team Krasnodar, according to Sky sources.

The 27-year-old striker wants to move to London and West Ham are trying to negotiate a loan with an option to buy, but Krasnodar want a £12m permanent deal.

Smolov has scored 59 times in 90 games for Krasnodar and 11 times in 28 games for Russia, including two memorable goals in a friendly against Spain in November.

Smolov speaks fluent English and he has been described as the "Russian David Beckham", he is expected to be one of the stars of the World Cup finals in Russia this summer.

West Ham are keen to bring a striker in before Wednesday night's deadline after selling Diafra Sakho to Rennes and telling Andre Ayew he can leave the club.

They are also being linked with a move for former Southampton striker Graziano Pelle who is currently playing in China.

Mail

West Ham eye loan move for Everton's Morgan Schneiderlin as David Moyes chases an experienced midfielder

David Moyes is desperate to sign new players before deadline on Wednesday He wants to add experienced Premier League central midfielder to his squad The boss has been frustrated in attempts to land Joe Allen and Jonjo Shelvey Hammers are keen on taking Everton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin on loan

By Sami Mokbel

West Ham are interested in taking Everton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin on loan before Wednesday's deadline.

David Moyes wants to add an experienced Premier League central midfielder to his ranks this month but has been frustrated in attempts to land Joe Allen and Jonjo Shelvey.

And the Hammers are set to turn their attentions to Schneiderlin.

The France international only arrived at Goodison Park in last year's January window, having struggled to hold down a regular first-team spot at Manchester United.

It was his form at Southampton, playing in a defensive midfield role, which earned him a move to Old Trafford but things didn't work out for the Frenchman.

Schneiderlin has enjoyed regular football following his switch to Merseyside, but could now be on the move to another Premier League club.

The 28-year-old has made 19 Premier League appearances for Sam Allardyce's men this season.

OS

Moyes: Hammers have funds to spend on quality players

West Ham United manager David Moyes has assured supporters that he has the backing of the board to spend money on the ‘right players’, but will not add to his team just to increase the quantity at his disposal.

The Hammers completed their first signing of the January transfer window at the end of last week, with midfielder Joao Mario arriving on loan from Inter Milan, and Moyes insists he is looking to bring in more before the close of the window on Wednesday evening.

And the boss has indicated that the Club will provide him with funds in the transfer market to acquire the best possible players.

Read more at http://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/january/29-january/moyes-hammers-have-funds-spend-quality-players#bKJ3UpsYwCLjlLPI.99

“Of course, they are doing as much as they can,” Moyes said, when asked if the Club was still pursuing transfer targets. “They want West Ham to be as good as they can be.

“They’re doing everything they can. They’ve given us the funds for the right players that are available. It’s difficult to get the right players. There’s not been loads of transfers and, if there have been, they’ve been extremely expensive ones.”

The manager, however, will not ‘waste money’ by signing the wrong individuals, believing that to do so would be to the detriment of himself and his current team.

The Hammers take on Crystal Palace on Tuesday evening in the Premier League, one day before the transfer window ends, and Moyes is only interested in adding good players to his side in that time.

“The priority is to add good players to your squad,” Moyes continued. “What you don’t want to do is add players who actually are just going to make the numbers up.

“Ultimately, we’re short of players right now and we could do with adding, but I’m not going to bring people here who I don’t think are going to make a difference to the team. It’s a waste of money and a waste of time as well.

“We want to bring people in who can someway contribute between now and the end of the season, if not longer.”

C&H

West Ham injury news goes from bad to worse

First scans on Pedro Obiang’s knee were completed on Sunday, further scans will likely take place on either Wednesday or Thursday this week. Depending on the severity of the injury, Obiang could potentially be sidelined for the rest of the season claims www.whufcbulletin.com.

The report claims medical scans have revealed that Pedro Obiang has sustained a tear to his Lateral Collateral Ligament (LSL). Further investigations will be undertaken after swelling has reduced to determine the extent and grade of tear of the injury and whether the midfielder will require an operation.

Initially, it was thought he suffered Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) which has a six week recovery period but now medical staff believe it is much worse than first thought.

A recovery from grade one or two LSL tear involves compression, elevation, cryotherapy and short-term use of crutches.A hinged brace is used for 4-6 weeks before the player came resume light training.

Grade three severe LCL injuries typically require an operation due to rotational instability since they usually involve the posterolateral corner (PLC) of the knee. Patients may require bracing and physical therapy for up to 3 months to prevent later instability before light training and rehabilitation can recommence.